Public art

Bloomberg Philanthropies grants for street murals open for applications

Up to $25,000 in award money will fund projects in as many as 20 US cities

Are museums as Covid-risky as saunas? Culture leaders outraged over late reopening of English art spaces

Commercial galleries, non-essential retail, and even gyms have been given the green light to open before museums under the UK government's "roadmap" to lift coronavirus restrictions

Bank of England wades into UK's escalating culture war on controversial monuments, saying it will remove images of slave owners

“Retain and explain” or restrain and refrain? Culture chiefs raise the alarm on government’s policy to keep problematic statues ahead of crucial meeting

Chicago’s list of 41 public statues for review includes depictions of Native Americans and several monuments of Abraham Lincoln

The city-formed advisory committee is now asking for public feedback on the works, as well as considering proposals for new monuments

Smoke sculptures, word gardens and a ‘jackrabbit homestead’: Desert X announces artist projects for third edition

Judy Chicago, Oscar Murillo, Nicholas Galanin and others to present works in Southern California's first major art event since the pandemic shutdown last year

Keep problematic monuments and ‘explain them’, UK government to tell cultural leaders

Opponents argue that some public statues reinforce racism, chauvinism, sexism and homophobia

Maya Lin’s 'ghost forest' will rise in Madison Square Park this spring

The installation about climate change was postponed for a year due to the pandemic

In unanimous decision, Kinderhook zoning board recognises Nick Cave’s Truth Be Told is art not a sign

The village zoning board agreed with public and art world opinion that the vinyl text installation is “a political message in art”

Public artgallery

With Mardi Gras parades cancelled, New Orleans artists create House Floats

Local artists and designers have used their float decorating skills to turn neighbourhood houses into lavishly festooned marvels

Locals in upstate New York defend Nick Cave installation at appeal hearing over its removal

A debate about art and censorship erupted in Kinderhook after village officials ordered a work to be taken down from Jack Shainman’s The School outpost

Mobile portraits of American life roll in to three US cities through PBS public art initiative

The roving works, by Rick Lowe, Swoon and Carlos Ramirez, take over repurposed vehicles

Amid child sexual abuse accusations, Paris authorities turn off Claude Lévêque light sculptures

The French artist is under police investigation over claims that he abused minors under the age of 15

Monumentscomment

Tearing down troubling statues is not lying about our history—it is removing impediments to truth

The UK communities secretary Robert Jenrick's plans to prevent the removal of controversial monuments reveals his inability to view the past as shifting and complex

Seesaw installation at US-Mexico border wins Design of the Year award

The joyful project became a counterpoint to the division and violence sown by the Trump administration

Biden inauguration is largely virtual—but some live art is planned

A public art installation of 200,000 flags opens on the National Mall, as coronavirus and heightened security forces most events online

Douglas Coupland brings his prophetic slogans to Vancouver's billboards

Slogans for the 21st Century are on view in the city's new Arbutus Greenway

UK government announces new laws to protect controversial historic monuments from 'woke worthies and baying mobs'

Proposed plans have been criticised as distraction tactics from the state's "lethally failed response to the pandemic and the consequences of a disastrous Brexit"

Saga of Picasso murals ripped from Oslo building continues as heirs head to court

Family of artist Carl Nesjar—who collaborated on the works with Picasso—say they have a copyright claim and should help decide where the pieces are relocated

Brazilnews

Brazilian sculptor João Turin memorialised with sculpture park in Paraná

The site will “encourage sustainable development that values the fauna and flora of the Brazilian environment—the themes to which Turin dedicated his life”, says collector and businessman Samuel Lago

The fate of the San Francisco Art Institute’s historic Diego Rivera mural hangs in limbo

The proposed sale of the work has raised outcry from artists and city leaders, who have taken action to protect it

Giant painting of George Floyd murder displayed on Los Angeles billboard after being cancelled in Minneapolis

Advertising firms in Minneapolis—where Floyd was killed by police—refused to show the work saying it was too violent, but advocacy group says it will try again

Vandals apprehended after covering Richard Serra’s vast desert sculpture in Qatar with graffiti

Government organisation Qatar Museums has launched campaign to encourage locals to respect public works

Apache artist Bob Haozous explains why he made a shrine to racism

The son of the modernist sculptor Allan Houser describes the impetus behind his piercing monument in Santa Fe

Noguchi lobby installation is carted away from its high-rise New York home, across the street from MoMA

Museum sought to keep the site-specific work in place at 666 Fifth Avenue, but developer decided it had to go during renovation

Podcastspodcast

Contemporary public art: who is it for?

Plus, Tom Sachs on Mondrian's Broadway Boogie-Woogie

The must-see outdoor shows and artworks in Miami this week

From Marco Brambilla's Duchamp-inspired projection for Maison Margiela to an interactive work by Olaf Breuning

Provocative Marilyn Monroe sculpture to return to Palm Springs—and the arts community is not happy about it

A plan to install the kitsch work in front of the city’s art museum has raised complaints from the community, which has called Forever Marilyn “blatantly sexist”